Hitched!, page 7
I pushed my glasses up onto my forehead so I could knuckle under my tired eyes. ‘I suppose I should be grateful you picked that and not the orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally or something equally embarrassing—and don’t even think about it!’ I warned as George’s face lit up. ‘I’ll admit that your little stunt has improved my relationship with the guys on site—and my reputation in the council offices, apparently!—but no more, all right?’
George crossed his fingers and held them up. ‘Scout’s honour,’ he mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich.
I might as well accept the inevitable. I pushed back my chair. ‘Want some coffee?’ I asked and he stuck up a thumb.
I made the coffee and plonked his mug in front of him before taking mine round to my own seat. It felt easier with the desk between us.
It was a delicious sandwich, I had to admit, and my enjoyment was spoiled only by the fact that when George had finished his, he tipped back in his chair at a dangerous angle so that he could put his feet up on my desk.
‘Do you mind?’ I said pointedly.
‘What’s the problem?’
‘Your dirty socks are the problem! Could you please take them off my desk and stop tilting that chair like that? It’s making me nervous. I don’t care if you break your neck, but I’ve got a health and safety record to think about.’
George sighed and swung his feet down. ‘It seems to me health and safety regulations were invented just to stop the rest of us having fun.’
‘It’s perfectly possible to have fun without risking injury,’ I said primly, and then wished I hadn’t because George leant forward and waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.
‘How do you have fun, Frith? Do you have a five-year plan for that too?’
I pressed my lips together and glared at him, almost glad when my mobile went off and spared me the need to reply.
I use the words ‘went off’ advisedly. I leapt in my seat as a maniacal cackling and quacking filled the room. ‘You’re not leaving here until you’ve changed this,’ I said to George, who was grinning, idiot that he was.
Snatching up the phone, I answered it just to shut up the noise. ‘Hello,’ I snapped.
‘Frith, it’s me.’
‘Oh...Saffron.’
Please God, let it not be another forty-five minutes on whether the guests would think three thousand pounds a bottle too mean, which pair of Jimmy Choos would go best with Saffron’s dress, or the exact shade of the specially woven silk coverings for the chairs.
Evidently prepared for a long wait, George tipped back in his chair and put his feet back on the desk.
‘I’m doing the seating plan,’ moaned Saffron. ‘It’s so difficult.’
‘It must be,’ I said, not really listening. I pointed at George’s feet and mouthed Down!
Needless to say, he just smiled blandly back at me. It wasn’t a challenge I was about to resist. Saffron wittered on in my ear as I went round and tried to lift George’s legs onto the floor. I was hampered by the fact that one hand was holding the phone, but even so he was incredibly strong.
Refusing to give up, I wrestled one-armed with his legs while he just leant back in his chair and smiled at my puny efforts. It was only when I could feel my face turning red with effort that I realised how absurd I was being, and I started to giggle silently. George was smothering his own laughter and in the end I had to press the phone against my shoulder so that Saffron wouldn’t realise just how little attention she was getting.
‘You can see what a problem it is,’ Saffron was saying as I admitted defeat and perched on the edge of the desk next to George’s feet while I recovered.
‘Absolutely.’
‘So I’ll sort out a date for you, then?’
Any lingering desire to giggle vanished as the smile was wiped off my face. ‘What?’ I said, startled. ‘What for?’
‘I’ve just been explaining!’ Saffron heaved a martyred sigh. ‘A singleton looks so odd on the top table. I could ask Daddy not to bring his new girlfriend, but she’s such an attention seeker, she’d probably make a fuss. Anyone would think she was the only supermodel on the planet!’
It was the first I had heard about my father’s latest girlfriend. He had never remarried after Saffron’s mother had left, but was careful to be seen with a string of spectacular beauties, none of whom had gone down well with Saffron. If there was any attention-seeking going on, Saffron liked to be the one who was doing it, and she had no time for any attempts to outshine her.
I guessed that a supermodel sitting next to you on the top table wasn’t any bride’s dream but if Saffron loved anyone, it was her adoring father, and if he wanted his girlfriend there, Saffron would put up with it for his sake.
‘Of course, if I explained about the odd numbers, I’m sure he’d understand,’ said Saffron hopefully.
Tell my father that he would have to leave his gorgeous girlfriend behind so that he could sit next to his ugly duckling daughter, too boring to be able to get a boyfriend of her own? I didn’t think so.
‘Don’t involve Dad,’ I told Saffron quickly.
‘I’ll ask Piers, then. His girlfriend will be on a shoot at the wedding, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being your date for the wedding.’
Without wanting to, I found myself looking at George, who could obviously hear every word. He smirked at me and gave me the thumbs up.
I smiled back at him, sweetly. ‘Don’t worry about a date for me,’ I told Saffron without stopping to let myself think. ‘I’m bringing my boyfriend.’
‘You’ve got a boyfriend?’ Saffron sounded surprised, as well she might.
‘Didn’t I tell you?’ I said. ‘It’s George.’
George’s chair tipped forward abruptly, and his feet crashed to the floor.
Result.
‘George?’ Saffron echoed blankly.
‘You remember him when you were up here? Roly’s friend?’
‘Oh, yes.’ I could practically see Saffron’s expression clearing. ‘I didn’t know you two were...you know.’ For such a sophisticated socialite, Saffron could be surprisingly prudish. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I haven’t told anyone else,’ I said, wriggling my bottom more comfortably on the desk and getting into my story. I was beginning to enjoy myself. ‘To be honest, Saffron, this is just a physical thing for me. George is absolutely mad about me, but you know what I’m like. I hate being crowded. It makes things awkward on the site when he’s hanging around like a lovesick puppy.’
Lovesick puppy? George mouthed in disgust and I spread my hands in a what-can-you-do? gesture.
‘I haven’t told George this yet,’ I confided in Saffron, ‘but I’m just having a good time with him until I go overseas. He’s got a good body, and I’m not interested in anything else. I mean, it’s nice to be adored, don’t get me wrong, but I can see me getting bored with him pretty quickly. Still, it’s something to do in the evenings up here and he’ll brush up OK for the wedding, so put him down as my date.’
‘Well, all right, but I wish you’d told me before,’ said Saffron with a huffy little sigh. ‘It would have saved me a lot of worry about the seating plan.’
* * *
‘You don’t need to panic,’ I told George when I finally managed to get Saffron off the phone.
‘You’re the one who should be panicking,’ he said, amused. ‘Now you’ve got to take me to the wedding and persuade me to act like a lovesick puppy!’
‘OK, I’m sorry about that, but it served you right for messing around with my ringtones,’ I said. I was back in my chair, turning the phone round and round in my hands as the implications of what I had just done began to sink in. ‘And you won’t really have to go, of course. I’ll make some excuse to Saffron.’
‘You can’t make it my fault,’ said George. ‘Remember how mad I am about you!’
‘I’ll tell her I’m getting bored with you.’ I pursed my lips as I thought. ‘I’ll drop a few hints about your performance in bed, which is frankly a little...disappointing, shall we say? It’s going to turn out that you’re really not man enough to satisfy me. Saffron will understand.’
George’s eyes glinted appreciatively. ‘I’m not sure she will. Having met your sister, I’d have thought she’d need a lot more than a lousy lover as a reason for throwing out her seating plan.’
Unfortunately, all too true.
Perhaps I had got a little carried away, I thought. I would have to ring Saffron straight back and explain that I had been joking. Which might take some time. Saffron’s wedding was a Very Serious Business and she wouldn’t take kindly to the idea of me making light of it.
My heart sank at the prospect of the conversation.
‘I’ll ring her tomorrow,’ I said. ‘There’s still time for her to fix me up with this Piers person. Apparently he’s prepared to take me on as a pity date,’ I added glumly.
‘It won’t be much of a pity date if Saffron tells him how you’ve been using me as your sex toy.’
‘Oh, she won’t tell him that.’ I pulled down the corners of my mouth. ‘I can hear her already: “Frith’s quite old and she’s a bit eccentric. She actually has a career—no, I don’t know how to spell that either, it’s too shaming—but if you could bear to be seen with her, Piers darling, I’ll make sure you get in on the photos in Glitz...”’ I sighed. ‘It’s pretty humiliating when your date has to be bribed to be seen with you.’
‘I don’t think you should go with anyone who needs to be bribed to be your date,’ said George firmly.
‘It’s better than being paired off with my father,’ I said, ‘and the alternative is to be marooned on the top table with a big sign over my head saying “sad older sister on the shelf”. Piers might not be a prince, but he’ll be better than telling Saffron I’m going to mess up her seating plan completely,’ I went on. ‘I know she’s a bit bridezilla at the moment, but this wedding is so important to her. I can put up with a bit of humiliation for a day.’
‘Or you could take me, the way you told her,’ said George.
‘That was a joke!’
‘Of course it was, but it’s not a bad idea. Why not take me?’
I looked at him in astonishment. ‘I couldn’t ask you to do something like that!’
‘Why not?’
‘The wedding’s going to be ghastly. You don’t know the meaning of ostentation until you’ve seen Saffron’s wedding plans! My father’s spending over a million pounds on this wedding.’ I grimaced with distaste. ‘I love my sister, but talk about over the top...!’
George spread his hands. ‘It won’t bother me. I can have a good time anywhere.’
I stopped in the middle of a laugh. ‘You’re not serious?’ I asked.
‘I don’t mind,’ he said. ‘I brush up OK, and I won’t pick my nose in public or eat my peas off my knife.’
I could believe it. He had the assurance that would take him anywhere. George wouldn’t be intimidated by the glossy celebrities or the flashing cameras the way I was.
I studied him across the desk. He had tipped his chair back in precisely the position he knew drove me mad and was looking back at me, his eyes blue, his brows raised humorously, the lopsided curl to his mouth creasing one cheek in a way that made me feel hollow inside. He was gorgeous, there was no other word for it.
Infuriating, unsettling, provoking but, yes, gorgeous.
I had no illusions about myself. I wasn’t plain, but I was no beauty either. Unlike my lovely sister, I was just ordinary. Ordinary, practical and—it had to be faced—more than a little uptight. Not the kind of girl gorgeous men wanted to spend the weekend with.
As I remembered all too well. Charles had made that more than clear.
‘Why would you want to do that?’ I asked, and he smiled at the suspicion in my voice.
‘I don’t want you trashing my reputation as a red-hot lover.’
I just looked at him.
‘All right,’ he said, letting the front legs of his chair fall back to the floor as if to underline that he was serious. ‘I’ve got to admit that it did occur to me when you were winding up your sister that we might be able to help each other. There’s something you could do for me in return, if you felt like it.’
‘There is?’
‘Remember I told you about the grandmother Harry and I used to spend our holidays with?’
‘The one with the horses and the dogs?’
‘That’s right.’ George hesitated. ‘She’s ninety in June, and there’s going to be a small family party at her house. When I spoke to her last night, she said she wanted me to be there.’
I could imagine how difficult that would be for him. I knew how I felt about having to see my father again at Saffron’s wedding.
‘Are you going to go?’
‘I have to,’ he said. ‘Letitia’s house was the only place that ever felt like home. She was wonderful to me and Harry. We loved being there. She gave me my first pony and taught me how to ride. If she wants me at her party, then I’ll be there, but it’s not going to be an easy occasion. I don’t know if my parents and Harry even know she’s invited me.’
‘I can see why you wouldn’t look forward to it,’ I said, wondering just how badly he had messed up to be ostracised by his parents and his brother. He must have done something awful if they couldn’t forgive him. ‘But what’s your grandmother got to do with me?’
For the first time since I’d met him, George seemed unsure. He got up and wandered over to the window where the rain was still pelting down.
‘I was just thinking that it would make her really happy if I turned up with you.’
I stared at him in astonishment. ‘With me?’
‘Letitia would like you,’ said George. ‘She was always very dismissive of girlfriends I took there in the past. She said they were all “flibbertigibbets”, and, to be fair to her, most of them were. I thought she’d approve of Annabel, but when I told her that the engagement was off she just sniffed and said I was well out of it. She said Annabel had no spine.’
‘And you think I do?’
‘Nobody looking at that straight back of yours could doubt it.’ The warm blue eyes rested on me, and under his gaze I felt that dangerous curl of warmth flickering to life again inside me. Maybe having a spine wasn’t as exciting as being sweet and sexy and fun, but, still, it was a compliment.
‘It was Letitia who told me to stop messing around,’ George went on. ‘She said then that all she wanted was to see me settle down with a woman of integrity. “Find yourself a sensible girl,” she told me, “and I can die happy.” I’ve been trying to think about what I could take her as a present, and I honestly think that what she would like most was to believe that I had found the right woman.
‘A woman like you, Frith,’ he said, looking straight at me.
Sensible. I was. I kept my life firmly under control and you couldn’t get more sensible than that, and yet I was unaccountably put out. I didn’t mind having a spine, but sensible? Why not just come right out and call me dull?
‘Of course, she doesn’t have to know that you’re the kind of girl who invents dates to foil her sister’s seating plans,’ said George, who had a truly unnerving ability to read my mind at times.
‘You’re not suggesting we get married and settle down just to keep your grandmother happy, I hope?’ I said, more tartly than I intended.
‘I wasn’t thinking of going that far,’ said George. ‘It would be enough if she believed that I had met someone suitable and was thinking about it.’
‘Are you sure you want to lie to your grandmother?’
‘We don’t need to pretend to be engaged or anything. That really would be a lie,’ he agreed. ‘But I have met you. That’s not a lie. I think she’d like the idea that I had found someone she approved of.
‘The family split has been hard on Letitia,’ he went on when I said nothing. ‘I’d like to make her feel as if everything was coming together and that she doesn’t need to worry about me any more. Would that be so wrong?’
FIVE
I went to smooth my hair behind my ears and found it was already there. ‘Pretending to be a couple feels like a lie,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be deceiving your grandmother.’
‘But you’re comfortable deceiving your sister?’
‘That feels different somehow. Saffron doesn’t really care if you and I are really a couple. She only cares about her seating plan.’
‘And you’d be taking me along because you care about her,’ said George, leaning back against the photocopier and folding his arms. ‘Sure, you can insist on being completely truthful. You could tell her that you’re proud of your independence, that you’re happy to go to her wedding on your own, and to hell with her seating plan, but you won’t, will you?’
My eyes slid away from his. I wouldn’t, and he knew it.
‘I could tell Letitia that my future was none of her business and that I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than go and play happy families with my parents, but that would hurt her, and I don’t want to do that, any more than you want to hurt Saffron.
‘So yes,’ he said, ‘it would be a pretence, and it would be a kind of lying, but would it be so terrible?’
He straightened from the photocopier before I had a chance to answer.
‘Why don’t you think about it?’ he said. ‘But don’t feel under any pressure. If you don’t want to come to our happy family reunion, I certainly wouldn’t blame you!’ He was putting on his boots, reaching for his jacket. ‘I’m happy to pretend to be your boyfriend at Saffron’s wedding anyway,’ he promised. ‘I’m not going to turn down the chance to be with a sex kitten like you!’
Sex kitten. It was the first time I’d ever been called one of those! I tried to imagine what it would be like if George weren’t joking, if he really did want to be with me because he couldn’t keep his hands off me, and was embarrassed to find that a disquieting thrill snaked down my spine at the idea. Sensible I might be, but I still rather liked the thought of being too hot to handle, although I knew I’d never in a million years be able to pull it off.
